151 Stay Strong Quotes for When Life is Hard

Sometimes life is just hard.

You make a mistake. A setback slips out from around a corner and hits you between the eyes.

Or you fall into a rough patch, a crisis or feel that you’re too far away from achieving your dream and you just want to pack up and go home.

That’s when you need to stay strong.

And that’s what this post will help you to do.

It will motivate you, recharge you and help you reclaim your inner strength when you need it.

Here’s 151 of the most though-provoking, encouraging and helpful quotes for the times when life is hard and you need to stay strong.

Bonus: Download a free step-by-step checklist that will show you how to stay positive. It’s easy to save as a PDF or print out for whenever you need it during your day or week.

Inspiring Quotes to Help You Stay Strong

Quotes for When Life is Hard and You Need to Stay Strong

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
– Dale Carnegie

“Sometimes you don’t realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness.”
– Susan Gale

 

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
– Robert H. Schuller

“When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.”
– John F. Kennedy

Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher

“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Stay Strong Quotes by Sarah Dessen

“Anyone can hide. Facing up to things, working through them, that’s what makes you strong.”
– Sarah Dessen

“He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions.”
– Louisa May Alcott

“I like criticism. It makes you strong.”
– LeBron James

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“We acquire the strength we have overcome.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

A quote on staying strong by Napoléon Bonaparte.

“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.”
– Napoléon Bonaparte

“It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more ‘manhood’ to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.”
– Alex Karras

“You can’t really be strong until you can see a funny side to things.”
– Ken Kesey

“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
– Og Mandino

Stay Strong Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi

“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

“Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.”
– Unknown

“The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”
– R. G. Ingersoll

“We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided.”
– J.K. Rowling

“Concentration is the secret of strength.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Life is very interesting. In the end, some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.”
– Drew Barrymore

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
– Christopher Reeve

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
– Albert Camus

Stay Strong Quotes by Louisa May Alcott

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
– Louisa May Alcott

“Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there.’
– Eckhart Tolle

“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.”
– Albert Schweitzer

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.”
– Robert Schuller

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
– Henry Ford

“Most great people have attained their greatest success one step beyond their greatest failure.”
– Napoleon Hill

“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”
– Wayne Dyer

“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.”
– John Wooden

“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.”
– Lou Holtz

Stay Strong Quotes by Margaret Thatcher

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
– Margaret Thatcher

“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.”
– John Newton

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”
– Ann Landers

“The more one judges, the less one loves.”
– Honore de Balzac

“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength”
– Oprah

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
– Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
– Arnold Schwarzenegger

“Our strength grows out of our weaknesses”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands – and then eat just one of those pieces.”
– Judith Viorst

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

Stay Strong Quotes by Dale Carnegie

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
– Dale Carnegie

“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.”
– Leo Buscaglia

Quotes to Help You When Life is Hard (or You’re Having a Rough Day)

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Make up your mind that no matter what comes your way, no matter how difficult, no matter how unfair, you will do more than simply survive. You will thrive in spite of it.”
– Joel Osteen

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”
– Hermann Hesse

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
– Lao Tzu

“Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope”
– Hal Lindsey

“Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement – and we will make the goal.”
– Jerome Fleishman

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.”
– Flavia Weedn

Stay Strong Quotes by Muhammad Ali

“Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.”
– Muhammad Ali

”Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”
– Richard Branson

“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven’t.”
– Thomas Edison

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”
– Henry Ford

“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.”
– John Steinbeck

“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.”
– Lee Iacocca

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”
– Arthur Golden

Stay Strong Quotes by Colin Powell

“It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.”
– Colin Powell

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
– J.K. Rowling

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
– Maya Angelou

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”
– Marie Curie

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”
– Marcus Aurelius

“A truly strong person does not need the approval of others any more than a lion needs the approval of sheep.”
– Vernon Howard

“Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.”
– Wayne Dyer

Stay Strong Quotes by John Burroughs

“A man may fail many times but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”
– John Burroughs

“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.”
– William Ellery Channing

“People living deeply have no fear of death.”
– Anais Nin

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see in truth that you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
– Kahlil Gibran

Stay Strong Quote by Christine Mason Miller

“At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end.”
– Christine Mason Miller

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”
– Duke Ellington

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
– Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”
– Mary Engelbreit

”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
– Brian Tracy

“When I hear somebody say ‘Life is hard’, I am always tempted to ask ‘Compared to what?'”
– Sydney J. Harris

Stay Strong Quote via a Chinese Proverb

“The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”
– Chinese Proverb

“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.”
– Helen Keller

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“Never say never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.”
– Michael Jordan

“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
– Maya Angelou

A quote on staying strong by Bruce Lee.

“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
– Bruce Lee

“To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself.”
– Soren Kierkegaard

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

“I don’t really want to become normal, average, standard. I want merely to gain in strength, in the courage to live out my life more fully, enjoy more, experience more. I want to develop even more original and more unconventional traits.”
– Anaïs Nin

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”
– Chinese Proverb

Stay Strong Quote by Arthur Golden

“Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.”
– Arthur Golden

“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”
– Catherine Ponder

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.”
– Frank Herbert

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”
– Samuel Beckett

“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.”
– Barbara Bloom

“When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit
It’s when things go wrong that you mustn’t quit.”
– Edgar A. Guest

“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
– Thomas Paine

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'”
– Eleanor Roosevelt

“All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
– Walt Disney

Stay Strong Quote by Napoleon Hill

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of a greater or equal benefit.”
– Napoleon Hill

“Though I might travel afar, I will meet only what I carry with me, for every man is a mirror. We see only ourselves reflected in those around us.
Their attitudes and actions are only a reflection of our own.
The whole world and its condition has its counter parts within us all.
Turn the gaze inward. Correct yourself and your world will change.”
– Kristen Zambucka

Insightful Stay Strong Quotes to Renew Your Self-Belief

In this section I want to share timeless and deep wisdom that’ll make you think. Make you see things from a new perspective.

And help you to rebuild your belief in yourself and what you can accomplish.

“The harder the struggle, the more glorious the triumph. Self-realization demands very great struggle.”
– Swami Sivananda

“Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome. ”
– N. R. Walker

“Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”
– Joshua J. Marine

A quote on staying strong by Jodi Picoult.

“The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance.”
– Jodi Picoult

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
– A.A. Milne

When adversity strikes, that’s when you have to be the most calm. Take a step back, stay strong, stay grounded, and press on.”
– LL Cool J

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
– Helen Keller

“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.”
– Michelle Obama

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
– Maya Angelou

“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
– Calvin Coolidge

A quote on staying strong by Leonardo da Vinci.

“The depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then do they have to fall back on their reserves.”
– Leonardo da Vinci

“Don’t give up. There are too many nay-sayers out there who will try to discourage you. Don’t listen to them. The only one who can make you give up is yourself.”
– Sidney Sheldon

“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.”
– Haruki Murakami

“No matter how much it hurts now, someday you will look back and realize your struggles changed your life for the better.”
– Unknown

“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.”
– Malcolm X

A quote on staying strong by Doe Zantamata.

“It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.”
– Doe Zantamata

“It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong.”
– Miles Davis

“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”
– Joseph Campbell

“Resilience is not what happens to you. It’s how you react to, respond to, and recover from what happens to you.”
– Jeffrey Gitomer

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
– Michael Jordan

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche

A quote on staying strong by Vivian Komori.

“Life is not about how fast you run or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.”
– Vivian Komori

Ask for help. Not because you are weak. But because you want to remain strong.”
– Les Brown

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.”
– Mary Anne Radmacher

Short but Powerful Quotes to Help You Stay Strong

Finally, a couple of handfuls of quick and punchy ones.

Those thoughts from the past few hundreds of years that get right to the point and many times have helped me to snap out of a sad funk or brought me back into taking action mode again.

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“This too shall pass.”
– Persian adage

“Stay strong, stay positive, and never give up.”
– Roy T. Bennett

A quote on staying strong by Bruce Lee.

“Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
– Bruce Lee

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
– Khalil Gibran

“Sometimes adversity is what you need to face in order to become successful.”
– Zig Ziglar

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.”
– Will Rogers

“Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”’
– Nelson Mandela

A quote on staying strong by Vivian Greene.

“It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.”
– Vivian Greene

“Don’t let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.”
– Dalai Lama

“Facing it, always facing it, that’s the way to get through. Face it.”
– Joseph Conrad

“Difficulties in life are intended to make us better, not bitter.”
– Dan Reeves

“The darkest hour has only sixty minutes.”
– Morris Mandel

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”
– Bob Marley

“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.”
– Harry Golden

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
– Vince Lombardi

A quote on staying strong by Walt Whitman.

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
– Walt Whitman

“Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.”
– Helen Keller

“Sometimes bad things have to happen before good things can.”
– Becca Fitzpatrick

“The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.”
– Japanese Proverb

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
– Winston Churchill

“Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”
– Steve Maraboli

“Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.”
– Charles R. Swindoll

“Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.”
– Bernice Johnson Reagon

“You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.”
– Brian Tracy

Here’s the next step…

Now, you may think to yourself:

“This is really helpful information. But what’s the easiest way to put this into practice, actually stick with it and stay positive even on tough days?”.

Well, I’ve got something special for you.

A free step-by-step checklist with 14 practical steps that will help you to stay positive. Save it or print it out so you have it for your daily life and for the next time when you get stuck in negative thinking.

Click the download image below to download the free checklist:

Want more motivation? Then check out this post you are enough quotes and this one about knowing your worth and value.

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About the Author

Henrik Edberg is the creator of the Positivity Blog and has written weekly articles here since 2006. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Gothenburg and has been featured on Lifehacker, HuffPost and Paulo Coelho’s blog. Click here to learn more…

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Great post!
    Nice List of Quotes.Very helpful For me.Thanks for sharing.

  • Its nice blog.. helpfullllll

  • samirice

    good

  • Very motivating quotes.